Candid cameras will prove illegal parking

PARKING attendants will be given digital cameras so they can produce photographic evidence for ticket disputes.

Transport chief John Howarth revealed at Tuesday night's full council meeting that council staff received a staggering 1,800 calls a week about parking tickets - many of them from angry motorists who think they have been wrongly ticketed.

Cllr Howarth said: "The cameras will mean that a picture may be taken at the time of Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) issue. These are acceptable as evidence at the adjudication stage.

"The objective is to minimise the confusion as to whether or not a vehicle was committing an offence under the relevant Road Traffic Act, to enable the council more effectively to exercise its discretion and to ensure that the actions of parking attendants are seen to be fair."

He added: "The difficulty for the council is in being seen to be fair both in the issue of tickets and in exercising its discretion. This is particularly difficult where the location of the vehicle, the clarity of the restrictions or the display or otherwise of an appropriate permit is disputed."

He said the discretion to interpret the parking regulations remained with the council, not with the parking attendants.

He was answering questions raised by Keith Uden of Milman Road, Katesgrove, who wanted to know what he was doing to ensure that wardens issued

tickets in a "fair and consistent manner".

Mr Uden also asked if the council could do something about the "customer service element" in the way attendants and council staff dealt with the public which he said was "a little lacking".

Cllr Howarth said: "I think I am right in saying that members of staff have to deal with 1,800 calls a week from members of the public and it is in the nature of things that some of those callers are not in the best state of temper because nobody likes to get a parking ticket."

He confirmed Milman Road would be included in an ongoing review of parking restrictions and that he had visited roads in Katesgrove, Battle, Minster, Redlands, Park and Caversham wards as a result of the borough-wide review.

He said: "Just because there have been parking restrictions imposed historically in some areas, there may not be any reason to keep them now. The review will be looking at that."